Tuesday, July 29, 2008

day 30: the last day...

is this my last day of the 30 day challenge? that came around fast. i am contemplating the big 'what next?' well instead of resuming life as it was before the primal challenge i am leaning towards continuing on with what i have learned about eating and endurance training over the last month. i have set some new running related goals and it will take a lot of effort (and energy) to be able to train my way towards achieving them. this blog will now act as a record documenting my ongoing quest to achieving what i hope is the next level in my athletic capability. to those readers who have followed my primal challenge progress please bookmark this blog and drop in from time to time. if anyone is interested and wants me to change format or detail about what i post here please leave some comments.

daily update:

two days after the marathon and i'm still very sore! the foot is much better but my calves are still tight and painful to the touch. i have been doing some light stretching and i even managed to make it to a spin class at lunch. took it relatively easy but it was good to be moving again.

personal stats:
weight: 164lb (-8)
feeling: great (mentally), sore (physically)
sleep: 6hr good
legs: argh...

today's exercise:
spin class: 45mins easy to moderate effort

today's diet:
breakfast: fried bacon, mushrooms, spinach, eggs + mandarin + black coffee
snack: apple, almonds
lunch: salmon, avocado, cherry tomatoes, carrots
snack: almonds
dinner: chili con carne on a bed of steamed broccoli and spinach
snack: blue cheese + raisins

results:
the way i feel now towards food is that i am much freer with my choices and selections. as someone who generally trains for a minimum of 1-3 hours of running and or x-training per day i felt like a slave to eating high carbohydrate foods in order to maintain my fluctuating energy levels. often my daily food choices while mostly healthy would also include selections made from the vending machine and the chocolate boxes. the end result was that i would often feel increasingly tired throughout the day while at work.

from day one of the challenge i changed my diet by eliminating processed sugars and foods and thus reducing my emphasis on carbohydrates while increasing both protein and fat content in my diet. by the end of the first day i was already amazed at how good i felt and i had an overwhelming feeling of being extremely mellow and energised. i was worried that my performance would suffer while in my last month of training for the marathon and it did. well it did until i started adding in some carbohydrates during exercise and in the post-exercise window to replace my lost glycogen. it worked great and i was able to get through the rest of my training. my run volume suffered a little but i could still achieve the intensity so i focused on that. i still managed a couple of really great long runs on nothing but a few dates, a couple of bananas and some sports drink.

the end result for me was a total weight loss of eight pounds (starting weight of 172 and end weight of 164). I achieved a lowest weight of 162 pounds right before i carb loaded for the marathon in which my weight finished up around 165 pounds on race day. my waist decrease from 33 inches down to 31 within the first three weeks. i also achieved my goal of running a sub 3 hour marathon.

time to chase the 2:4x marathon train!

thanks for reading and i will continue to keep you posted.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Great job and thanks for sharing! Looking forward to watching you in the future.

Unknown said...

I am a triathlete looking to follow in your nutritional footsteps. I am about your size also.

Brett said...

Congrats on the PR marathon. Sub-3 hours is awesome. Keep us posted on your progress, both nutritional and athletic. :)

Primal Runner said...

thanks for leaving a comment. it's good to know people are reading this.

brett - i have read the percy cerutty book (noted on your blog) and find that his training ideas and life philosophies would complement the primal blueprint. his runners ate lots of raw and natural foods from memory. i think i will have to have another look at the book and see what i can implement into my plan.

sub-3 hours is great but a little disappointed that i didn't run a few minutes quicker. gave up some time when i went on mental walkabout.

Day 2: Early start

After discovering that my wife's bike had been stolen from the bus stop where I had chained it up for my ride home last night meant that...